{"product_id":"murder-in-a-mill-town-sex-faith-and-the-crime-that-captivated-a-nation-hardcover","title":"Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBruce Dorsey\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA master storyteller presents a riveting drama of America's first \"crime of the century\"--from murder investigation to a church sex scandal to celebrity trial--and its aftermath.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn December 1832 a farmer found the body of a young, pregnant woman hanging near a haystack outside a New England mill town. When news spread that Methodist preacher Ephraim Avery was accused of murdering Sarah Maria Cornell, a factory worker, the case gave the public everything they found irresistible: sexually charged violence, adultery, the hypocrisy of a church leader, secrecy and mystery, and suspicions of insanity. \u003cem\u003eMurder in a Mill Town \u003c\/em\u003etells the story of how a local crime quickly turned into a national scandal that became America's first \"trial of the century.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAfter her death--after she became the country's most notorious \"factory girl\"--Cornell's choices about work, survival, and personal freedom became enmeshed in stories that Americans told themselves about their new world of industry and women's labor and the power of religion in the early republic. Writers penned seduction tales, true-crime narratives, detective stories, political screeds, songs, poems, and melodramatic plays about the lurid scandal. As trial witnesses, ordinary people gave testimony that revealed rapidly changing times. As the controversy of Cornell's murder spread beyond the courtroom, the public eagerly devoured narratives of moral deviance, abortion, suicide, mobs, \"fake news,\" and conspiracy politics. Long after the jury's verdict, the nation refused to let the scandal go. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA meticulously reconstructed historical whodunit, \u003cem\u003eMurder in a Mill Town \u003c\/em\u003eexposes the troublesome workings of criminal justice in the young democracy and the rise of a sensational popular culture.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBruce Dorsey \u003c\/strong\u003eis a Professor of History at Swarthmore College. He is the author of the award-winning \u003cem\u003eReforming Men and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City. \u003c\/em\u003eHe lives in New York City and Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 384\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.15 x 9.28 x 6.51 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 29, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42703999926335,"sku":"9780197633090","price":38.86,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/9113a93b02ab0e6490727ba605e24ca3.webp?v=1765031646","url":"https:\/\/dhl-adrianne.myshopify.com\/products\/murder-in-a-mill-town-sex-faith-and-the-crime-that-captivated-a-nation-hardcover","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}